Omnichannel in retail – a practitioner’s eye

Customers want consistent omnichannel experiences

Today’s consumers expect complete freedom of choice in where and how they shop. The Omni-commerce 2025 study shows that 71 percent of Poles buy from the same brands both online and in-store , a For 75% of buyers, the absolute basis is the availability of the brand in all channels sales. Customers appreciate convenient solutions that combine the digital and physical worlds: 29 percent of respondents indicate the possibility of returning an online order to a stationary store as a major benefit, and 26 percent value the option to see a product in a showroom before buying online (increasingly also
the other way around) . The trend is clear: shoppers want a seamless, integrated shopping experience regardless of the sales channel.

At the same time, there are warnings for companies ignoring these expectations. Adyen’s global report indicates that As many as 70 percent of consumers will abandon purchases from a brand that does not offer convenient, modern solutions across channels . What’s more, 61 percent of customers say they are more loyal to brands that allow them to return a product bought online from a store, for example . The reality, however, is that currently Only 23 percent of companies offer this option . So we have a clear gap between customer expectations and the reality of many retailers’ offerings. How can this be, when the importance of omnichannel strategies is widely known and technology seems to be at our fingertips?

Why the problems with omnichannel implementation?

Despite awareness of the market’s needs, many large retail chains in Poland face serious barriers to implementing omnichannel strategies. Industry research shows,
that 78 percent of retailers find it difficult to integrate outdated systems IT, a 71 percent struggle with data silos , through which sales channels do not “talk” to each other. Among the most important technical problems encountered by companies at the analysis stage are:

• Monolithic legacy systems. Most large chains have for decades relied
  on elaborate ERP, POS or WMS systems created even 20-30 years ago. These monoliths with closely related modules (sales, warehouse, CRM, etc.), which used to be an advantage, now inhibit the speed of change and integration. Modifying one function requires interfering with the entire system, making quick business adjustments almost impossible. Worse, 58 percent of companies still rely on outdated technologies (like the “immortal” COBOL) – there is a shortage of specialists to operate them,
  and the cost of maintaining legacy systems often outweighs the potential
  gains from improvements. Paradoxically, then , the biggest problems are often faced by mature companies with huge, historical investments in IT. There, the infrastructure is complex and expensive to change, and the risk of business disruption is high.
• Data silos and lack of channel integration. In most organizations we are familiar with, the various sales channels (stores, e-commerce, mobile apps) run on separate systems. Data on customers, inventory or sales are scattered in separate databases, resulting in a lack of a unified view of the customer and up-to-date information
  on the availability of goods. Vendors are unable to provide a consistent service, e.g. a loyalty program only works offline and a promotion only in the online store. This fragmentation of data prevents personalization of offers and efficient omnichannel service (e.g., in-store pickup, reservations), frustrating today’s customer already accustomed to seamless experiences.
• Lack of real-time inventory visibility. Cross-channel inventory management is a challenge for ~68% of retailers. Without a “single view of inventory,” the company does not know how much merchandise is actually available here and now in individual stores and warehouses. This results in recurring situations where a customer orders a product that is available at the time of purchase, which is actually already sold out. This leads to cancellation of orders or replacement of the product with an “inferior” one, spoiling the experience. Implementing ship-from-store or click-and-collect models is proving difficult, as they require accurate
  data on the status of each SKU at all points of sale. Traditional systems lack such current visibility.
• High cost and complexity of change. Omnichannel transformation can be costly, both in terms of financial investment and human resources. Large networks have spent years building “bespoke” solutions that are difficult to combine with new channels. The need to upgrade means spending on infrastructure, licenses, integrations and potential business interruptions for deployments. Managements are rightly concerned about the risks, especially when the company operates on high turnover and low margins. For example, one Polish shoe giant, despite its e-commerce successes, emphasizes in its financial reports the need for disciplined costs and further capital investments in logistics and IT to maintain
  and develop an omnichannel model. Not every company is ready to bear such a burden right away, especially if it has invested millions in the legacy system.

Scaling and performance issues. The challenges of omnichannel become painfully apparent during spikes in traffic and scale of operations, such as during the holiday season or Black Friday promotions. As many as 62% of organizations cite a lack of real-time processing as a barrier, with old systems designed for batch operation unable to keep up with today’s pace of transactions. This results in synchronization delays between channels (e.g., a store will sell a product that is still listed as available online) and overall performance degradation under heavy load. Monolithic applications often do not scale well in the cloud, and adding computing power “vertically” (larger servers) is expensive and inflexible. It also lacks full fault tolerance; if a central system goes down, it often stops sales across all channels. All this makes IT from the “heart of the business” to a bottleneck for growth

Today we say MACH, composable commerce, event-driven

Since traditional systems can sometimes be a crutch, how to evolve out of them? The solution is modern IT architecture based on MACH principles and composable approach, supported by event-driven processing. Instead of attempting a risky “revolution” and replacing everything at once, companies today are betting on an evolutionary transformation – step by step modernizing more elements. The key pillars of this approach are:

• Microservices and MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) architecture. In practice, this means building a system from a collection of independent services, communicating through APIs, running in the cloud and separated from the front-end layer. So instead of one “colossus” we have dozens of smaller applications responsible for specific domains (e.g. product catalog service, inventory service, payment service, etc.). Twenty-eight percent of organizations implementing omnichannel already claim to use microservices architecture ,
  because it allows you to make individual functions independent and develop them faster. New functionality can be added or changed without the risk of overturning the entire ecosystem. Importantly, components can be purchased as ready-made services instead of writing them yourself. For example, a new recommendation engine or OMS module can be implemented as a separate service and integrated with the rest through an API. Deconstruction of the monolith should occur gradually, experts recommend using the strangler pattern, that is, “strangling” the monolith by successively replacing its elements with microservices. In this way, the transformation takes place evolutionarily, the old system works until a new component is ready to replace it.
• Event and real-time data integration. Even the best microservices plan won’t work without ensuring efficient data exchange. This is where the architecture comes into play
  event-driven, or message/event-based. In the traditional approach, different store systems (e.g. ERP, warehouse, e-commerce) synchronize, for example, every few hours or once a day. In the event-driven model, changes (events) distributed
  are instantaneous, in real time. When a product is sold at a stationary point, the “sold product X” event automatically updates the
  inventory in the central system and online store almost immediately. Event-driven architecture provides instant updates across all channels, significantly improving data consistency, system performance and, of course, business results.
  Moreover, it makes integrations independent of direct connections between systems; each system “listens” for events of interest in a message broker (e.g., RabbitMQ) or event stream (e.g., Kafka). As a result, adding a new service (e.g., a mobile app) does not require rebuilding all integrations, it just needs,
  , to start publishing and receiving relevant events. Studies show,
  that after implementing microservices with event-driven communication , system response times improve by an average of 30 percent, and the number of errors drops by 70 percent (thanks to the elimination of delays and data inconsistencies). As a result, the company can act on current data, customers can see the true availability of goods, the “order promise” (promise to fulfill an order) is kept, and marketing can respond to events (e.g., abandoned shopping carts, in-store transactions) immediately with automated actions.

This modular, event-driven approach enables transformation through evolution rather than revolution. Existing legacy systems do not have to be discarded right away, they can be surrounded by a “facade” of APIs and events, gradually transferring more functions to the new solutions. For the organization, this means spreading costs over time and, above all, less risk; individual steps can be implemented and tested sequentially. Importantly, standards such as MACH, headless architecture or composable commerce platforms are already well tested in practice by market leaders. The result is a modern IT ecosystem that grows with the business. Adding a new sales channel or service no longer requires an expensive redesign, because the system is inherently flexible.

POS as a flexible platform for omnichannel implementation

Modern retail does not need another “sales system” – requires a flexible, scalable and easily integrable platform that fits into an organization’s complex omnichannel ecosystem. IXPOS, developed by INEOGroup, can play such a role. It is not just a checkout application, but a complete, state-of-the-art transaction platform that extends the capabilities of existing IT environments with key sales and integration services.

IXPOS was designed to design as an on-premise solution in the store, providing full operational independence and continuity of work even with temporary loss of connectivity. At the same time, its central module can be run flexibly – on physical or virtual servers, also in the private or public cloud. Thus, the system combines the advantages of local performance with central management and integration at the organization level.

The IXPOS architecture is based on API-first principles and event-driven data exchange, which allows it to easily integrate with existing middleware platforms described earlier in the article. In this way, IXPOS becomes a natural extension of a retailer’s IT infrastructure – consistent, secure and ready to work in complex environments
with multiple ERP, OMS and e-commerce systems.

In practice, IXPOS offers a set of modern services that fill the typical gaps
in an omnichannel environment:

• IXPOS Fiscal Service – ensures consistency and uniformity of fiscal transaction recording across the network. All operations are fiscalized and recorded in one central IXPOS repository, from where they can be shared with other systems
  via API or RabbitMQ. Such a model guarantees full compliance control, billing transparency and fiscal data security.
• IXPOS Loyalty & Promotion Service – supports loyalty programs, conditional and combined promotions. Central rule management allows you to conduct consistent marketing campaigns across all channels (online, POS, mobile) and precisely match offers to customer segments.
• IXPOS Gift Card Service – supports the full service of gift cards – both physical and digital – enabling them to be redeemed at any customer touchpoint.
• IXPOS SFS Service, IXPOS Picking Service and IXPOS Courier Service – are responsible for picking and handling online orders (click&collect, ship-from-store, courier deliveries), using real-time inventory data.
• IXPOS KSeF Service (under development) – will provide a unified platform for communication with the government’s KSeF system (National e-Invoice System), facilitating the handling of electronic invoices across the organization.

With this set of services, IXPOS combines the functions of sales, fiscal, promotion
and logistics into one cohesive platform that can operate independently or work with existing central systems. Real-time data exchange ensures operational consistency and full process visibility across all channels.

In practice, this means that IXPOS can act as the missing link in an omnichannel architecture – enabling incremental upgrades without replacing existing systems. Where traditional solutions are too heavy or inflexible, IXPOS brings lightness, efficiency and interoperability. The system can be deployed in a modular fashion, starting with the area of greatest business value – fiscal, loyalty, order picking – and developing additional functions as needed. This operating philosophy is in keeping with the spirit of MACH: it enables iterative improvements without revolution, giving the company control over the pace
and scope of the transformation.
IXPOS is not just another POS, but a platform that bundles the worlds of sales, logistics, fiscalization and marketing into a single transactional ecosystem in a modern way. It’s a practical tool for retail chains that want to develop an omnichannel strategy – stably, efficiently and without risk to current operations.

Summary

There is growing evidence that omnichannel is no longer an option, but a necessity in the strategy of large retail chains. Polish consumers are rapidly adopting new forms of shopping and expect brands to keep up with them, whether they’re shopping by phone, computer or at the mall. Unfortunately, old IT systems, data silos and organizational habits often keep companies stuck. Fortunately, technology approaches available today (microservices, event-driven architectures, composable platforms like iXpos) allow you to break down these barriers step by step. Instead of a risky revolution, you can plan a smart system evolution so that technology becomes an enabler, not an obstacle, to your business strategy.

If you feel that your IT system is starting to be a barrier, invite us for a casual conversation. We’ll be happy to share our experiences and help you find the path to a truly omnichannel future for your company.

Sources:

• e-Island (2025), Omni-commerce. I Buy Conveniently 2025 – a summary of the report . Data include 71% (same brand online/offline), 75% (expected presence across all channels).
• EY Poland (2024), Digital Transformation 2024. data: 84% of companies indicate digital transformation as a priority (vs. 38% in 2020).
• Adyen (2023, USA), Retail Report. Data: 61% of customers are more loyal to brands offering to return online purchases to a stationary store (BORIS).